


Nightmares and Villains

by Mockingjay468



Series: The Paths We Tread [8]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beta’d, Fëanorian Week 2021, Hunters & Hunting, Nightmares, Siblings, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29977461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mockingjay468/pseuds/Mockingjay468
Summary: “Am I a bad person Huan?” He asks quietly.Huan huffs a soft response.Celegorm has a nightmare and thinks on his decision in life.
Relationships: Aredhel & Celegorm | Turcafinwë, Celegorm | Turcafinwë & Curufin | Curufinwë, Celegorm | Turcafinwë & Edhellos | Eldalótë, Celegorm | Turcafinwë & Huan, Celegorm | Turcafinwë & Oromë
Series: The Paths We Tread [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125998
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Nightmares and Villains

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> So , for day 3 of Fëanorian Week I chose the prompt Strength and Beauty for Celegorm (once more, the story has a very vague relation to the actual prompt).
> 
> Thank you to [oliviacat3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliviacat3/pseuds/oliviacat3) for beta’ing.
> 
> And I hope you enjoy!

| Strength and Beauty |

_“You are very impressive.”_

_Tyelkormo hadn’t heard anyone coming. He loosed his arrow as he stumbled forward, startled by the voice. The arrow missed and the rabbit ran away at the sound of crunching feet._

_The speaker laughed heartily and Tyelkormo frowned._

_“What was that for?” He asked irritably, turning around. “Now I’ve missed…oh, my lord Oromë.” He fell to a knee and bowed his head._

_The vala laughed again. “Stand, Turcafinwë Tyelkormo.”_

_Tyekormo did as he was commanded, fluttering his hands by his side nervously._

_“I’ve been told you’re quite the prolific hunter.”_

_“Yes sir. I try.”_

_Oromë smiled but his next words were lost._

_“Tyelkormo! I didn’t know you were coming this time!”_

_He turned on his heel and smiled. “Calarpë! Yeah, Atto was too busy again to take us out so he let me come. It’s wonderful to see you again. How long has it been?”_

_She laughed. “Three years, I think? My sister – the elder one – just got married and my little sister isn’t old enough to help with the sheep so I had to stay home to help out until Mámallë returned with her new husband. She’s_ already _pregnant so it’ll likely be another few years until I can return after this – but I’ll certainly have bloody well earned it.” She looped an arm into his and they started to walk further into the woods. “Now, tell me more about yourself.”_

_“Eh. There’s not much to say. My mother left again to stay with Haru. My father’s even more addicted to his work. My brothers continue to be class-A idiots.”_

_“Siblings? What’s new?”_

_“Certainly not Maitimo’s crush on Findekáno he refuses to acknowledge.”_

_“Ugh. Tell me about it.” Tyelkormo looked down at the nís on his arm and it was Irissë now. She grinned up at him. “Findekáno is just as impossible. I’ve told him time and time again that Maitimo feels the same way, but does he say anything?”_

_“Stubbornness is what it is.”_

_“Exactly. Wait.” Irissë put her arm out in front of him to stop him from going any further. “I think I see a deer,” She breathed. She drew an arrow and he watched as she readied it on her bow. It flew through the air with perfect precision, cutting the throat of the stag with perfect precision, the arrow embedding itself in the bark of a nearby tree._

_“Good shot.”_

_“I know.” They picked the animal up neatly between them and hauled it towards a nearby cave where they laid it out. He sat back against the stone and closed his eyes, breathing out after the exertion._

_“Are you really going to go into the house dressed like that? Ammë will have a fit if she finds blood on the carpets again.”_

_Tyelkormo rolled his eyes, hefting the deer on his shoulders again. “Telvo, Ammë won’t ever know.”_

_“She might. Will I be able to cook it?”_

_“I promised what I hunted today to Orrondo. He_ is _our cook after all.”_

_“Then you may find that she does find out.”_

_Tyelkormo stared at his youngest brother for a long while but Ambarussa did not stand down. He sighed irritably. “Fine. But ask Orrondo first.”_

_“Yes!” Ambarussa’s face lit up._

_Tyelkormo continued into the townhouse, stepping through a door and into the courtroom of the Tirion Palace, dressed in his best clothes._

_“Tyelko!” Makalaurë appeared from the crowd at the party and took his hand, pulling him from the room. “Thank Eru you’re here.”_

_“What happened?” He asked at the distress on Makalaurë’s face._

_“Maitimo’s been taken. Maitimo’s been-”_

_Tyelkormo held his sobbing brother numbly as they sank to the floor in the middle off the silent assembly. Something about this felt…wrong._

_“Tyelko!” Irissë was back again, her face pale and blood staining her white dress. “Where were you?”_

_The assembly around them whispered_ where were you where were you where were you _as Makalaurë disappeared from his grasp like smoke in the wind and Irissë took a step back in the water. The room around him was falling on his head as it went up in dancing flames, reflected in the still water._

Where were you where were you what did you do what did you do _chants in his ears._

_He looks down at his hands, gripping his sword and it is all covered in so much blood._

_His tongue burns, from fire and oaths and…_

_“Tyelko!”_

_He looks up sharply and Curufinwë is standing there in front of him. The whispers die away as he looks at his baby brother he promised to protect._

_He pushes himself to a stand to gently caress his cheek. There is a scar on his cheek, that runs from the bridge of his nose, underneath his eyes and to the base of his ear._

_“What happened?” He asked, tracing it with his finger._

_Curufinwë grinned in a way that he has never smiled, wide and feral. “You should have protected me. You should have known better than to let me run off. You should have been a better brother.”_

Celegorm wakes up with a start, flicking his eyes open and breathing heavily. Huan jumps up onto the bed and licks his face worriedly.

Celegorm pushes him away as he throws himself out of his bed to throw up into the chamber pot beneath his bed, emptying his stomach of his supper the previous night and what feels like most of his stomach acid.

The world spins and the walls around him seem to bend in, threatening to fall and crush him beneath their weight.

Huan whines and jumps from the bed to settle beside him on the floor.

Celegorm buries himself in Huan’s thick fur, breathing in the comforting scent.

“Am I a bad person Huan?” He asks quietly.

Huan huffs a soft response.

“I came back for him, didn’t I? I…I could have stayed free like Edhellos would have told me to do but I came back. I had to come back, you know?” He thinks of the moment that Maglor appeared from the rubble of Sauron’s fortress, their brother looking so tiny in his arms.

And then, he abandoned him again. He let Curufin leave and get so terribly, terribly hurt and then he left again with Lúthien and her lover on the fool’s errand of a quest.

“I had to come back,” He breathes again. “I _had_ to.”

**Author's Note:**

> Non-Canon Names:  
> Calarpë - Light Thief (Quenya)  
> Mámallë - Sheep Woman (Quenya)  
> Orrondo - Mountain Man (Quenya)
> 
> Quenya Translations:  
> Haru - Grandfather (Informal)  
> Nís - Female Elf  
> Ammë - Mother (Informal)


End file.
